Most separation systems handle well stream from several wells. The wells are choked to a common pressure into a manifold and flows in a common pipe to a first separator that may be a multiphase cyclone separator. To reduce the momentum of the incoming gas/liquid well stream in the separator an inlet device is normally mounted inside the separator. Traditionally, the inlet device has been a simple splash plate or a set of vanes. More recently, new inlet cyclones have been introduced to benefit from high g-forces to eliminate foaming etc. These inlet cyclones normally reduce the foam tendency, but they may create a very complex emulsion of oil and water that often can be impossible to separate in a subsequently arranged gravity separator.
Recently, some oil companies experience new challenges for their separation process. The fact that some of the wells are oil continuous and some are water continuous may cause complex emulsion patterns. Water droplets may trap oil droplets that, in their turn, may trap even smaller water droplets. The various wells may be choked differently, thus having large variations in droplet sizes. This adds to the complexity of the incoming gas/oil/water mixture. The water cut for each well will change during the production, typically from 5% water to 90% water. The inlet separation cyclone thus needs to be flexible in handling the various types of mixtures. In particular, for complex emulsions properly applied shear level/g-force level may positively break complex emulsions rather than further stabilizing the emulsions.